UCF Scandal

Excerpt from Orlando Sentinel story linked below:

“The father of UCF football player Ereck Plancher, speaking for the first time since his son’s funeral, expressed concern about the family’s distant relationship with UCF and went so far as to say he was concerned about a ‘cover up.’”

And if that is not enough:

“Enock Plancher has remained silent since his son’s March 29 funeral. At the time, UCF told the media the school would pay for Ereck Plancher’s funeral. However, he said the family has not received any financial support.

“They (UCF) didn’t tell us anything about paying for the funeral,” Enock Plancher (Ereck’s father) said. “They just told reporters they would pay for it but never talked with us. We paid all the expenses for the funeral.”

Mr. Plancher goes on to say: “A lot of people think something is wrong and the university is not telling the truth,” he said. “I am worried they are right.”

Our prayers are with the family.

Full story and source of these excerpts from the Orlando Sentinel

UCF football player Ereck Plancher showed signs of distress during an intense workout last month before he collapsed and later died, four of Plancher’s teammates told the Orlando Sentinel.

Plancher, a 19-year-old receiver from Naples, was taken to a hospital March 18 and was pronounced dead about an hour after the workout, known as a “mat drill.”

A preliminary autopsy was inconclusive. Further tests are under way to determine the cause of Plancher’s death.

The UCF players, who asked for anonymity because they fear retribution from football coaches, said Plancher’s final practice was more intense than the basic-conditioning workout described by UCF officials.

In an interview with the Sentinel, UCF coach George O’Leary and his football staff disputed the four players’ account of Plancher’s final practice.

More from same story: “The four players said Plancher fell during the final sprint and members of the UCF coaching staff yelled at him to finish the drill. “Ereck took off running about 5 yards and fell; the coaches were yelling at him to get up, and of course he came in last,” one player said.”

“After the workout, the team huddled in the middle of the field, where O’Leary singled out Plancher and cursed at him for lack of effort during the final sprint, the four players said.”

“All four players recall that O’Leary said to Plancher, “That’s a bunch of [expletive] out of you, son,” in the huddle. O’Leary denied cursing at Plancher but recalled telling people around him, “He’s better than that.”

“Ereck was in the back when O’Leary was yelling at him, but Ereck couldn’t even look at him,” one of the players said. “He was trying to catch his breath the whole time, and he never could.”

“Plancher was noticeably woozy and staggering as he tried to participate in the final jumping-jacks drill, the players said. The team finished those exercises, then huddled one final time. Plancher collapsed while walking away from the huddle, the players said. ”

Go to the Orlando Sentinel for the full report

UCF Scandal editor’s note: Unlike other “scandal” sites, we are a very compassionate team here at UCF Scandal and share in the grief over the loss of Ereck Plancher. With respect, we’ll not editorialize on the school’s response, only publish the media’s findings.

How can UCF conduct an internal review into a player’s death without interviewing players?

Posted on Mar 26, 2008 1:57:04 PM

Mike Bianchi

(NOTE TO READERS: I am updating my previous blog post with some clarification from UCF associate athletic director Joe Hornstein):

I have to tell you, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me when I read our Kyle Hightower’s story in Wednesday’s Sentinel about UCF concluding its “catastrophic incident” internal review into the recent death of football player Ereck Plancher. In the story, it actually said that the review was completed without interviewing any of the football players.

Huh?

How do you conduct a internal catastrophic incident review without officially interviewing the people who were closest to Plancher that fateful day last week when he collapsed and died during an offseason workout? This would be like the police conducting an investigation into a vehicular death and not talking to the other passengers in the car.

Hopefully, there’s been some misunderstanding. Hopefully, somebody misspoke. Hopefully, UCF officials didn’t really conduct an official review without interviewing players, did they?

That’s why I contacted Hornstein Wednesday afternoon. His response: “On multiple occasions our players were strongly encouraged to speak to the coach and position coaches on anything dealing with the incident of March 18.”

Hornstein also sent me a statement in which it is pointed out that the catastrophic incident report “does not speak to or involve or provide a medical evaluation or conclusion of the incident,” but is intended to “establish protocol” when a catastrophic event happens.

That’s all well and good, but I’m still puzzled. It appears that this is as close to an official internal investigation as UCF is going to get. To complete it without any players being interviewed in an official capacity by some sort of school attorney or administrator seems almost unfathomable.

Seriously, how do you conduct an internal review into a player death without interviewing players?

As I wrote in a previous blog, UCF officials are obviously being very careful not to do anything or say anything that can be used against them should a lawsuit be filed. Let’s face it, in almost every case when a player dies during a team workout, somebody ends up getting sued. It happened at Florida State when Devaughn Darling died, it happened at Florida when Eraste Autin died and it happened at Northwestern when Rashidi Wheeler died. Meanwhile at the University of South Florida, the family of Keeley Dorsey, the South Florida player who died last January, has also retained a law firm to look into Dorsey’s death.

It’s understandable that school officials are worried about potential litigation, but the No. 1 concern here should be that Ereck Plancher is dead.

You would think a UCF investigator would officially interview anybody and everybody who was there that day — assistant coaches, equipment men, water boys, videographers and, yes, players — to find out if proper procedures were followed.

Link to Orlando Sentinel

After a suspicious encounter with a TV in which the infamous UCF star injured himself, Brandon Marshall has since lied regarding the circumstance surrounding the injury. Now lying should come as no surprise to UCF players and fans as it occurs at the very top of the UCF football program, but the Denver Post does a good job sorting through the latest Marshall incident.

Excerpt from full story linked here

“I understand I’ve had my problems, but what people are saying, they’re trying to twist this thing around to make me sound like some kind of bad guy,” Marshall said Monday.

Marshall has been some kind of bad guy in part because he has had lots of problems and isn’t always forthcoming.

While he was a student-athlete at the University of Central Florida in 2004, Marshall was arrested in Orlando (where the recent “accident” occurred) on charges of assault on a law enforcement officer, disorderly conduct and resisting an officer. According to The Orlando Sentinel, Marshall’s friends were arguing outside with others at a Denny’s, and police were called. As the result of a shouting match, Marshall was arrested and handcuffed. Charges against Marshall were dropped, but he was suspended for one game. In another incident, he was charged with driving with a suspended license. There have been other unkind descriptions about Marshall’s stay at UCF.

Those occurrences can be dismissed as college foolishness and irresponsibility.

However, 2007, off the field, was particularly ugly for Marshall, and can’t be dismissed so readily.

Shortly after midnight on New Year’s Day, Broncos teammate Darrent Williams was murdered. Another Denver wide receiver, Javon Walker (released recently), and Williams’ friends told HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” that trouble began when two men got into an argument with Marshall and his cousin at a nightclub in downtown Denver. Media reports stated that Marshall sprayed champagne on the men, and they flashed gang signs. The dispute later was continued outside, and Walker said he pulled Williams away and into a limousine as Marshall and his cousin left in another car. Soon after a shot was fired into the limo Walker and Williams jumped in, and Williams was killed.

Marshall has declined to talk publicly (but, no doubt, to investigators) about events that night leading up to the tragedy.

In March of last year, Marshall was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence and false imprisonment. Marshall attempted to prevent a taxi, which picked up his girlfriend, from leaving his property in suburban Denver. Marshall said he was trying to retrieve his cellphone. Chargers were dropped when Marshall completed an anger management course.

Marshall was charged with DUI in October after being stopped in LoDo, but pleaded not guilty, and his attorney is challenging the Breathalyzer test result.

With the Broncos, at training camp last year, Marshall sat out the first two weeks with a quadriceps injury. Coach Mike Shanahan then ordered Marshall to practice.

After the Broncos’ 41-3 loss to San Diego at home on Oct. 7, Marshall ripped the spectators, most of whom departed long before the humiliating game ended. “If you’re going to be a Broncos fan, be a Broncos fan. Don’t boo us when we’re down. When we start winning, then what?”

In December Marshall got into a brief shouting match in a receivers meeting with assistant coach Jeremy Bates, but denied rumors that he told Bates to cut him from the team.

Financial issues coming home to roost for UCF Athletics as audit report uncovers millions in audit findings. Most peculiar are the loans to the UCF Athletic Association with no stipulated payback schedule or requirement and nearly $50 million in student-athletic fees diverted:

UCF Student Newspaper, Central Florida Future - March 17, 2008:

• UCF mishandled several million dollars in funds and is spending more money than it should, according to a recent state audit.
• Several findings involved the university assessing fees and transferring funds without having legal authority for its actions. According to the audit, the university loaned $7.4 million to the UCF Athletics Association Inc. in violation of Florida statutes. There is not yet a plan as to how that money will be paid back.
• The university also transferred about $15 million to the association and the University of Central Florida Foundation, the audit states.

The Chronicle of Higher Education - March 17, 2008:

• A routine review by a state auditor has found that the University of Central Florida may have inappropriately lent its independent intercollegiate-athletics association more than $7.4-million, a practice the university has discontinued, and provided more than $49-million in student fees to the athletics association without proper oversight.

The Orlando Sentinel - March 26, 2008

• State auditors criticized UCF for its unusual practice of lending money to the UCF Athletics Association, a 4-year-old organization that does not fall under the requirements of Florida’s sweeping open-records law. Auditors found the university had no repayment plan for the loans, which amounted to $9.5 million.
• Auditors also took the school to task for diverting athletics fees, which students are required to pay, directly to the association without having an adequate way to monitor how the money was spent. Students at UCF pay an athletics fee of $11.72 per credit hour.
• Those payments amounted to about $14 million last year, or nearly half of UCF’s entire budget for athletics. UCF gave the association about $49 million in student-athletics fees between the 2003-04 and 2006-07 fiscal years, according to the audit.

Sneaky.

UCF Officials Hoping Surveillance Video Will Help Catch Videotaping Voyeur

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — UCF officials are using surveillance video to try and catch a voyeur who is videotaping women on campus. The problem first surfaced when the suspect started posting the videos on-line.

UCF students were outraged that unsuspecting women are being targeted.”That is disgusting and degrading to all the girls that go to UCF,” said Ashley Tate, a UCF student.The university says they may not be able to file criminal charges because it’s not illegal to videotape someone who’s walking in public.

Link to story

The fan mail is streaming in from fans across the state of Florida. At this time FAU (UCF’s newest rival) is leading in total quantity of feedback. UCF fans are in second (some examples provided yesterday) and USF fans third. The FAU fans are the best, as they seem to understand the intent of the site (and they seem to possess a sense of humor). For the UCF fans that don’t quite get it, allow me to copy and paste from Dictionary.com (with easy to understand UCF examples in italics - those are the curvy looking letters):

scan·dal  (skān’dl)
n.

1. A publicized incident that brings about disgrace or offends the moral sensibilities of society: George O’Leary’s lying on his resume and the ultimate dismissal and public humiliation that followed.
2. A person, thing, or circumstance that causes or ought to cause disgrace or outrage: Former coach Gene McDowell’s cover-up, obstruction and lying to the Feds during their investigation into wrongdoing at UCF.
3. Damage to reputation or character caused by public disclosure of immoral or grossly improper behavior; disgrace. Brandon Marshall, the poster boy for UCF scandal and his assaults on fellow students and females. Add trespassing and DUI, and you have enough to strip him from the UCF record books.
   
4. Talk that is damaging to one’s character; malicious gossip. UCF fan generated lies across the internet. Coach George O’Leary manipulating the media in his reasoning as to why USF has no interest in playing UCF. Simple failures to be honest and truthful when disseminating information such as the alleged USF-UCF “rivalry.”

It seems UCF fans don’t really know what a scandal is. They think a guy divorcing is wife is a scandal. We hope to help them in this shortcoming by continuing to dig through UCF’s past and present for examples even they can understand.

Coming up soon, full details on the UCF cell phone cover-up - a look back at the scandal that defined Central Florida.

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Joe Tumpkin has abruptly departed the UCF Knights football program.

“I had been hired at Central Florida on Jan. 14 and was getting started, but right after signing day I got a call from coach Bennett,” Tumpkin said. “I wanted to at least look at the opportunity and the more I looked at it, I felt like based on my past experience with coach Bennett — I learned a lot of football from him and we get along tremendously — and what I know about Dave Wannstedt it made it [a job] I couldn’t turn down.”

While not included in the Post-Gazette story one must logically conclude that Tumpkin decided there was much more to learn and achieve with the Big East’s Pitt Panthers. Having spent just over one month with the Knights, it is unclear if Tumpkin had been fully exposed to the make-believe that is UCF football. Regardless, he chose to move on with Wannstedt as head coach rather than George O’Leary - as he openly states above. A good decision for Tumpkin.

I wonder if George offered to help him with his resume?

It took a little while, but the USF-obsessed UCF fan base could no longer resist comment at UCF Scandal. Granted it has little to do with the topics at hand, but the comments give us a clear insight into the deranged mind of the UCF public.

Check out the blog response here from dear “Wil” to the alleged rivalry with USF.

But that’s not all. UCF fans have even emailed their thoughts and feelings, here is a sample of what’s come in so far to scoop@ucfscandal.com. What they don’t realize is they are not providing any “scoop.” Wise up tinmen.

Here’s my favorite so far, and winner of the weekly award, from GoldenUCFKnight9 (I’ll censor the ignorant profanity - I’m not sure, but I’d guess all Knights aren’t as profane and empty):

YOUR SITE IS F****** LAME

WHERE ARE YOUR “SCANDALS?”

YOU ARE A F****** DOUCHE

STOP YOUR CRYING - THE ONLY 5 STAR RECRUITS YOU GET ARE 5-TIME FELONS!

YOUR NOT THE “U” YOU NEVER WILL BE - YOU GOT YOUR ASS KICKED BY THEM 3 YEARS AGO

STOP TRYING TO FOLLOW THE BADASS MOLD

YOUR COACH IS ON CRACK AND HE NEEDS MORE OF IT

LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM YOU!

GO KNIGHTS!

OH AND WIN YOUR F****** CONFERENCE ALREADY - BOTTOM FEEDER

And to honor the weakest of the weak, from “Ryan”:

I find the existence of this website odd since UCF is generally known for being a clean program on the up and up. Did you mean to name this site USFscandal.com? I believe you might’ve registered the wrong domain name.

Certainly both psychopaths sent their warm regards at the upstart of the blog. There is quite a bit of reading for these little guys to do, providing they’re able.

There is plenty more to come from UCF Scandal, both new and old as we continue our mission to illustrate what really happens at UCF (besides losing).

UCF Scandal exclusive

Orlando, Florida - In an inexcusable fashion, the UCF athletic administration has elected to attempt to drive season ticket sales by continuing to market a “rivalry with USF”. The UCF Athletics official site states that “next season’s six-game home slate features non-conference opponents: South Carolina State in the season-opener, followed by in-state rival South Florida…”

How desperate is that? A rival implies a rivalry. After years of begging for a series with USF, South Florida finally conceded as part of their deal to exit the soon-to-be decimated non-BCS Conference USA. Now a member of an the even weaker “C-USA”, UCF attempts to mislead others by claiming to be a rival of USF. The Bulls, a member of the BCS Big East conference, reached as high as #2 in the country last year after absolutely dismantling an outplayed and outcoached UCF team 64-12.

That was the third straight win for the Bulls who now lead the football series with UCF 3-0. The final installment will be played this year. South Florida has no interest in playing UCF again. There is very little value to a rising program like USF to play a team as poor and under equipped as UCF.

Rival?

Don’t buy it.